If you’ve ever decided against touring the Aussie Outback because you don’t have a 4WD, today is your lucky day.

You CAN visit the Australian Outback in a standard, non-4WD car! Just follow these simple rules:

• Choose destinations that don’t require an especially equipped vehicle – there are more than you think!
• Know your vehicle’s limitations – consider fuel economy, range, clearance, tyres, weight rating, space – in relation to where you want to go.
• Outsource the driving (eg take a tour, hitch a ride) when conditions don’t suit.
• Check all road, weather and travelling conditions in advance – rain, road works, flooding etc can all cause road closures.
• Take the advice you receive – be prepared to change your plans if conditions are not suitable for your vehicle.  Having a Plan B always helps!
• Get road assistance (eg NRMA, RAA, RACQ etc), but be aware of any exclusions – sometimes road assistance to remote areas isn’t available.

Pilchard and I have travelled to all the RedzAustralia TOP 10 Accessible Outback HOT Spots below in either a Subaru** Touring Wagon, a Subaru Forester or a Subaru Outback. Sometimes we’ve even had a NON-off-road camper trailer in tow. We’re not foolhardy risk-takers – we just follow those rules.

But if we can have these 10 Accessible Outback Experiences without extreme 4 wheel driving, then so can you!

1 Whale Watching

Head of Bight, South Australia

Stand atop the Bunda Cliffs – longest unbroken line of sea cliffs in the world – and watch the whales cavorting below! Yes, you’re in the Outback – and this section of the all-bitumen Eyre Highway separating Ceduna from Norseman, ~1200 km west, is Outback all the way.

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain en route from Sydney and Perth, around ~ 4000 km, is one of Australia’s great road trips. Full of life changing experiences – think driving Australia’s longest straight stretch of road; golfing on the world’s longest golf course; and unravelling the mystery of the Nullarbor Nymph (take links below for details) – it’s a TOP Outback experience in itself, even without the whales.

Where: Head of Bight Whale Watching centre is just off the Eyre Highway, ~220 km east of Eucla on the WA/SA border

When: Whale season is from June to October

Stay: Nullarbor Roadhouse, 26 km from Head of Bight Whale Watching area

MORE about Head of Bight and the Nullarbor Plain

2 Opal Fossicking

White Cliffs, New South Wales

The tiny opal mining town of White Cliffs is the only place in the world where unusual pineapple opals occur naturally. Despite spending a couple of afternoons on the mullock heaps, the only ‘colour’ (opal-speak for actual opal) we found was pretty, but worthless. Maybe you’ll have better luck? We certainly did when we gave the diggings away and ‘found’ some opal in the White Cliffs township, along with the world’s only above-ground mineshaft tour, a self-guided historic walk and unusual architecture shaped by harsh weather conditions and limited building materials.

If you’re car’s up to it, take the rugged, unsealed Wanaaring road for 33 km to the Paroo-Darling National Park and Peery Lake, at over 30 km long the largest overflow lake along the river.

Where: White Cliffs is 96 km north-west of Wilcannia, which is 195 km east of Broken Hill on fully sealed roads

MORE about White Cliffs

3 Mail Run

Quilpie, Queensland

It’d be difficult to drive yourself north over ~400 km of mostly dirt station tracks through magnificent outback scenery – it passes through 10 pastoral properties. But hitch a ride with the local postie to deliver the mail, catch up with some of the locals and see what’s outside the Quilpie city limits!

When you’re done with the Mail Run, climb nearby Baldy Top lookout (top photo) for a great view over this remote Boulder Opal mining town on the edge of nowhere. Explore west by driving 100 km to Eromanga, reportedly the furthest town from the ocean in Australia; fossick for opal at the caravan park’s ‘Deuces Wild’ lease; or drive 75 km south to Toompine for an Outback Pub experience.

Where: Quilpie is 211 km west of Charleville on the Cooper Developmental Road; and ~950 km west of Brisbane on the Warrego Highway, all sealed

MORE about Quilpie and Eromanga

4 The Gibb River Road

via Derby, Kimberley, Western Australia

There’s NO WAY that driving the 660 km of rugged, stony, tyre-shredding Gibb River Road (also known as the ‘Boys Own Adventure’ route) from Kununurra to Derby qualifies as an ‘Accessible Outback’ experience.

But the ‘Gibb River Road LITE’ version does!

Outsource the driving and hit the notorious road on a 4WD bus (it’s a school bus in its spare time) from North-west Kimberley town Derby for a 360 km round trip on the Gibb River Road to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek, then back again.

So sit back, enjoy morning tea and lunch en route to the main attractions, and save your car and/or rig for the bitumen.

Where: Windjana Gorge/Tunnel Creek Day Tour leaves from Derby, 220 km north-east of Broome, Western Australia

Road Conditions: Appalling! That’s why you’re letting someone else do the driving, remember??!!

MORE about the Gibb River Road and the Kimberley

5 Hiking

Ormiston Gorge, Northern Territory

The amazingly varied and superb Outback scenery makes the 7 km Ormiston Gorge and Pound walk one of the best short-ish hikes in Australia (IMHO). But it helps that it’s superbly placed amidst the ancient rocky landscape of the West MacDonnell Ranges, traversed by the Finke River, oldest waterway in the world.

Ormiston Gorge is the smart alternative if you want to dodge the crowds at Uluru AND experience Outback magic with classic scenery, wildlife and a variety of walks. It’s SO good, a two-night stay turned into six nights!

Where: Ormiston Gorge is in the West MacDonnell Ranges, 128 km west of Alice Springs on a fully sealed road.

MORE about Ormiston Gorge

6 Camel Races

Bedourie, Queensland

Don’t expect to see horses at the Bedourie races – it’s camels all the way in the lead up to nearby Boulia’s camel race weekend. Join Bedourie locals for a TOP day out with racing, wood-chopping, good Aussie tucker, entertainment and an evening dance – to be held in 2016 on 9 July.

Home of the iconic Bedourie Oven, the town sits almost half-way between two other Western Queensland racing icons – Boulia, and the centre of Australia’s racing universe – Birdsville, with it’s world famous race meet held in September. Once the races are over, explore the area or just relax in the town’s Hot Artesian Pools!

Or stick around for the Boulia Camel Races – longest track in Australia; then move on to Winton for more races the following weekend.

Where: Bedourie is a 216 km drive – mostly sealed with about 14 km of dirt – south of Boulia; or 164 km north of Birdsville – mostly dirt.

When: Bedourie Camel Races 2018 Dates TBA, but usually the weekend before the Boulia Camel Races; Boulia Camel Race Weekend on Friday 20^th – Sunday 22^nd July 2017 AND Winton Camel Races Dates TBA, but usually the weekend after the Boulia Camel Races.

MORE about Bedourie Camel Races

7 Unnatural Attractions

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Standing on the edge of a massive man-made crater stretching for nearly 4 km and waiting for a blast that’ll knock the sides out even further is like nothing else you’ll see in the Outback. A bold scheme (somewhat like its founder Alan Bond) the Super Pit combines leases and resources to more efficiently mine the Golden Mile – one of the richest seams of gold in the world.

A town able to survive because of an ambitious engineering feat piping water from the outskirts of Perth, nearly 600 km to the west, Kalgoorlie is a gold-mining town 24-7.

There’s nothing quite like the Outback’s natural attractions – but there’s something strangely compelling about this very unnatural one!

Where: 600 km east of Perth

MORE about Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Super Pit

8 RED!

Windorah, Queensland

A number of localities vie for the honour of being the REDdest place in Australia. But for the reddest accessible outback HOT spot, there’s no contest.

Even with my old FILM camera, the red sand dunes west of Queensland Outback town Windorah are so startlingly vivid they almost hurt the eyes. Windorah has the added inducement of being closest town to Australian icon Cooper’s Creek – only place in the world where two rivers meet to form a creek. Then a little further west there’s the weirdly signposted ‘Point of Interest’, and a little further beyond that, The Little Loo at the end of the Universe – my most popular Scenic Public Toilet ever!

That’s all very nice. But it’s those RED sand dunes that get me every time!

Where: Windorah is 239 km north-west of Quilpie (see #3 above), along the Diamantina Developmental Road

MORE about Windorah and Cooper’s Creek

9 Wildlife Watching

Marlgu Billabong, Kimberley, Western Australia

As the crocodiles zig-zagged through the otherwise tranquil waters of Marlgu Billabong, centrepiece of the Parry Lagoons Nature reserve, the 65 species of birds we saw over two visits seemed unperturbed. Maybe the crocs were after bigger prey? That’s why we stayed firmly behind the barriers of the viewing platform over this magnificent inland billabong and breeding ground that attracts thousands of birds.

And bird-watchers!!

Only a few kilometres from East Kimberley Town Wyndham, the lagoon is a dramatically beautiful dry-season oasis against the stark colours and boab-tree-studded landscape that surrounds it.

Where: Marlgu Billabong is ~15 km on a dirt road from Wyndham.  Wyndham is ~100 km north-west of Kununurra on a fully sealed road.

MORE about Marlgu Billabong

10 Ridge Top Tour

Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, South Australia

Experience extreme Outback Adventure on a bone-shaking 4 hour return trip through the (almost) trackless adventureland of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary to Sillers Lookout. Even though you won’t be driving yourself on this tour, it’s full of heart-stopping action on steep tracks with vertigo-inducing drop-offs and staggering scenery from several vantage points that show off northern South Australia to supreme advantage.

Australia’s premier eco-tourism destination (IMHO), Arkaroola is set amidst a fantastic landscape with an extraordinary array of rocks and minerals, superb natural attractions, amazing self-drive exploratory tours (mostly 4WD only), rugged hikes and an observatory for star-gazing.

The Ridge-top tour is conducted by Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary and for my money, it’s the ultimate Aussie Outback experience of all time. And I’m happy for any other tour operators to prove me wrong!

Where: Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary is 125 km north-east from Copley on an all-weather dirt road. Copley is ~600 km north of Adelaide on a fully sealed road – and if the weather prevents you from getting out to Arkaroola, Copley makes a fine alternative destination

MORE about Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary and Copley

WARNING:

This post is an introduction to guide you to some of the more accessible Outback Experiences.

ANY trip to the Outback, no matter how easy it appears, MUST be carefully planned.  Please visit websites like Travel Outback Australia, Outback Australia Travel Guide or Outback Travel Australia for advice and to ensure you are well-prepared, and carry extra water and supplies at all times.

Why?  Because you’ll be faced with:

• Long distances
• Extreme temperatures
• Minimal facilities
• Limited services, including mobile phone access
• Harsh conditions

* IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

** Please note: These models of Subaru generally have slightly higher clearance than a standard car, and can be switched to 4WD mode if required.

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The post Red’s TOP 10 Accessible Outback Experiences appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

Australian Opal

I didn’t understand all the fuss about SiO₂.nH₂O until 2004.

That’s when I first visited Coober Pedy.  It’s slap bang in the middle of absolutely freakin’ nowhere in the South Australian Outback.  And it’s where I first found a piece of SiO₂.nH₂O I wanted to take home with me.

You might know SiO₂.nH₂O better as Hydrous Silica. Or maybe Opal!  Down here, diamonds AREN’T a girl’s best friend. 95% of the world’s opal is sourced from downunder, so Australia comes by its national gemstone honestly!  Australian Opal Rules!

Back in Coober Pedy, there was only one thing standing between me and my Opal. A small matter of $AUD800+. A bit much for my wallet, even if it was already a tasteful ring that actually fitted me.

But then I had a scathingly brilliant idea!  Why not find my OWN piece of opal and make my OWN jewellery? It couldn’t be THAT hard, could it?

So over the next few years I disregarded the legendary BAD luck attached to precious opal. My quest took me to five Aussie opal towns, also slap bang in the middle of nowhere. That’s because the ideal climatic and geological factors in which cryptocrystalline hydrous silica (yep, that’s yet another way of saying OPAL!) forms seem to occur in the harshest, most desolate and inhospitable land on earth.

Where else but the Australian Outback!

Was my quest successful? Well … here’s a set of random adventures from each Australian Opal town!

1. Coober Pedy, SA – Australian Opal’s capital

I awoke in perfect pitch blackness and waited for my eyes to adjust to the light.

They didn’t.

That’s what happens in a windowless room hewn from the solid rock under Coober Pedy in the middle of the night. But for the absence of shackles we could have been in a dungeon. Although the locals who’d built underground to beat the heat were probably used to it.

Meanwhile, the noise from above that had woken me – a pinging sound like pebbles on an iron roof – continued.

I put aside thoughts of poison pills, ventilator shafts and being buried alive. If anyone wanted to do me in, it’d be simpler to dump me in a disused mine-shaft!

Most of South Australia’s 80% contribution to the world opal market is mined in Coober Pedy.  It’s a pock-marked paradise where the golf course (‘blacks’ instead of ‘greens’) enjoys reciprocal rights with St Andrews of Scotland.

This isolated town has what I believe to the world’s only underground campground.  The Big Winch also has the distinction of being first place in the world where we successfully demonstrated a complete lack of opal-finding expertise.

And the noise?? Rain, of course!

2. Yowah, QLD – Australian Opal Exclusive

From our vantage point high above on the Bluff, the small town was almost lost in an endless sprawl of vegetation.  It promised total disorientation if you left the main road in.

Below us was the only place in the world where Yowah Nuts – small rocky nuggets of opal – are found.

Stay in Yowah for a full-on Outback experience to go with your Yowah Nuts.  This town is SO remote it’s visited by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  The only fuel in town at the caravan park is only available to their paying guests!

I didn’t expect to meet an ex-legionnaire, whose anecdotes about life in the Foreign Legion, including the true meaning of ‘decimate’, kept us entertained over lunch at the town’s only cafe!

After that, getting a fossickers license seemed a bit anti-climactic.

Luckily for inept unlucky opal-mining tragics like me, opal can be purchased locally.

SO … I was forced to descend into true tourist behaviour.  After passing up several fiendishly expensive cuts, I bought my first ever piece of opal.

A multi-coloured shard of Yowah Nut cunningly carved into a pendant.

Although I have to stand right for the sun to illuminate its colours, at only $AU25, it’s a reminder of what awaits our return to Yowah.

3. Lightning Ridge, NSW

As we left the Lightning Ridge Visitor Information Centre, I was asked the dumbest question in living memory.

‘D’ya reckon we’ll like it here, love?’ the the most inebriated of a clutch of beer-swigging Grey Nomads asked.  He drunkenly staggered against the door as he held it open for me.

Say what?

But Lightning Ridge is memorable for a whole lot of other reasons. We followed the ‘Car Door’ self drive tours to the Corcoran Opal fields – the richest stretch of black-opal-bearing soil on earth.  We also saw enough quirky attractions to make us wonder exactly what was in the super-heated bore water bubbling up from the Great Artesian Basin way below into the hot baths full of tourists exhausted after a day in the diggings.

Quirky Lightning Ridge

Think Flying Combi, the Chambers of the Black Hand, the Black Queen Experience and Amigo’s Castle! AND it’s home of the self-proclaimed ONLY black-opal-mining Cactus Farmers in the WORLD!! Black opal requires a tonne of equipment to reach the depths at which it is found.  So our short stay was spent exploring the place where legendary and prolific Aussie author, Ion Idriess worked and wrote ‘Lightning Ridge’ over 100 years ago.

Ironic, though, that any one of his books is now worth more than all the Australian opal Pilchard and I have EVER scavenged put together!!

4. White Cliffs, NSW

Call me a coward, but I can’t face the overhang of a LOOONG ladder tilting backwards into oblivion with nothing between me and the bottom of the mine shaft.  That’s why I did my ‘research’ on the surface while brave boy Pilchard went below for a mine tour.

The good news is there’s almost as much opal on the surface these days.  It’s hidden in the cast-offs surrounding the deserted mine-shafts scattered over the surface, if you don’t mind worthless smaller pieces! Tragically, the collection of ‘colour’ Pilchard and I found after a hard day digging won’t even make jewellery, let alone our fortune.  But I finally got the thrill of the quest and why people keep coming back for more.

Besides, White Cliffs is the only place on earth with unique Australian Opal Pineapples!

As a special treat, the owners of the Red Earth Opal Showroom and Cafe who’d shown Pilchard through their mine, threw in an above-ground mine-shaft tour for free for me.

A real bargain considering it normally costs 50c!

And what’s NOT to love about the place I spent 7½ minutes in paradise?

5. Quilpie, QLD

A bakery run by a gun shearer who still holds the world record for the most sheep shorn in one day is one of many distractions from Quilpie’s main business of mining boulder opal. Hell, with its own HOT Artesian Bore baths and in-season entertainment, you don’t even have to leave the Caravan Park to find yourself a good time!

It’s also not far from Eromanga – arguably furthest spot from the ocean in any direction in Australia.  With attractions like these, you could stay in Quilpie for a week without even thinking about Opal.

The ‘Deuces Wild’ Opal Mine is SO remote a rescue party is sent out (at your expense) if you’re not back by 5:00pm. The distraction of Bourkes Parrot, a lifer for twitcher Pilchard, was almost enough excitement without hunting for the elusive opal.

On the claim, our ever-growing opal-mining ‘expertise’ resulted in some seams of ‘colour’ running through the rock. But while they look nice in the sun, I’m not sure how they’ll become my Opal Ring …

The Quest for Australian Opal Continues

To date, the unkind could successfully argue my quest for my own piece of SiO₂.nH₂O jewelry has been a fools errand! But in the process, I’ve discovered an intriguing sub-culture out on the edge which I’m not yet done exploring.

SO … watch this space – and maybe next time I’ll hit the Australian Opal jackpot!

Want MORE?

• Opal according to Wikipedia
• Coober Pedy, South Australia
• Yowah, Queensland
• Lightning Ridge, New South Wales
• White Cliffs, New South Wales
• Quilpie, Queensland
• MORE Aussie ABC!

The post Aussie ABC: O is for Opal! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

With an official population of two, tiny Toompine is barely a blip on the radar!

And yet, all roads seem to lead there in the western Queensland Outback. A simple distance measurement between the outback towns of Eulo, Thargomindah and Quilpie yields Toompine’s coordinates almost exactly.

Is that enough reason to visit? Of course not!

But finding out why the local cemetery is called a ‘cemery’ surely is! To our regret, we had failed to give in to this tempting drawcard on our first visit to the Quilpie Shire. So the intriguing ‘cemery’ question was still in the back of my mind when we returned to the region a couple of years later.

The drive south from Quilpie to Toompine follows the historic ‘Dowling Track’.  En route, it passes a turnoff to the Duck Creek opal field – site of ‘Pride of the Hills, the first opal mine in Australia registered in 1871. And home of the ‘Huns Head’ opal – at 15.75 kg (35 lb) Queensland’s largest find!

But … giant opals being absent from the roadside, or at least not visible from the car, we were free to continue our 80km drive south to the Toompine pub.

The settlement of Toompine isn’t a town though.  This onetime Cobb & Co changing post and overnight stop built in 1893 proudly proclaims itself as ‘the pub with no town’!  There’s another good reason to visit right there.

Still maintaining its reputation for hospitality, the Toompine pub draws a steady stream of visitors with the offer of free camping (including power and hot showers), alternative accommodation at the ‘Toompine Terraces’, or drinks and meals for those just passing through!

But there’s more.

Out on the road, we’d swerved to avoid an errant Bustard (that’s the heaviest flying bird in Australia, not a misspelling) wandering along the road. It could have done a lot of damage to the car (and itself) if we’d hit it at speed.

To soothe our shattered nerves we entered the pub in search of refreshment. Urbanites please note – this isn’t the place to order a skinny-soy-decaf-latte unless you want to provide some amusement to the bar staff. But if you can, time your visit to coincide with a bus tour at morning tea time. Then, for $7 you can pig out on sample a s**tload variety of delicacies straight from the Country Womens Association cookbook. Trust me. Fancy coffee is not relevant here.

And you won’t need lunch – you’ll be so full it’ll feel like you’re going to have a food baby!  That’s because the Country Women’s Association is comprised, as far as I can tell, of extraordinarily good cooks devoted to resurrecting the lost art of taking tea. Something they do extraordinarily well.

So after sampling at least one of everything, admiring the pub’s historic displays, chatting with Stacey and Amelia (I can’t guarantee they’ll still be there for your visit) and admiring the pub’s exterior and campground, we returned to Quilpie, never to eat again.

Or at least not that day …

But damned if I didn’t forget to find out why the cemetery is called a ‘cemery’!  Luckily, after putting out a call for help, I got the explanation.  Apparently, on the wall of the pub where I was so busy eating like there was no tomorrow, there’s some information about the ‘cemery’.

So here’s what I now know.

Toompine’s ten-grave cemetery contains the graves of two young children.  One of them, a young boy, died from strychnine poisoning after playing on some kangaroo skins that had been treated with arsenic.  When this child’s sister visited the cemetery, she carved a sign saying ‘Cemery’ from a piece of Mulga wood to mark the spot.  The Quilpie Shire has now fenced the cemetery and used her sign to mark the spot.

After staggering back to the car, we returned to Quilpie to relax in the artesian spa.  Toompine makes a great day trip, even without the morning tea.  But take my advice and find out when the next one is before you go!

Want MORE?

• How to spend a week in Quilpie
• Australasian Bustard
• Visiting Thargomindah
• Take a trip to Eulo
• Things to do in the Quilpie Shire

The post A Day Trip to Toompine, Outback Queensland appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

Emus near Quilpie, Outback Queensland

The Australian emu*(Dromaius novaehollandiae**) is arguably the most highly evolved bird on the planet.  Or perhaps even in the universe!

But whether or not you agree may well depend on your gender …

After mating, the female emu sticks around just long enough to lay the eggs, with the male in attendance night and day.  Then she’s off to the fleshpots of emu-land to repeat the experience, sometimes mating several times a season!  Her offspring will never see her – unless by accident, of course!

The mail emu incubates the eggs by sitting on them for eight weeks – and sacrifices himself by neither eating nor drinking during this time.  Then he raises the newly-hatched chicks to adulthood – for at least 6 months, although often until the next breeding season.

That’s Dad, not Mum with these emu chicks in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges!

So images like this show DAD with the chicks, Mum being long gone and likely to have spawned at least one more family by the time the chicks are this size!

A deadly beak, and even deadlier scimitar-like toe-nail protect the emu from its natural predators like the Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) – but also gives them their legendary disregard for fences thus triggering a new predator, the Human (homo sapiens, sub-species farmer).

And while it can’t outdo the ostrich for size, it IS the second largest bird in the world (by height) at up to 2 metres (6.6 feet) – so it can be disconcerting to have one hovering around your barbie waiting for a snag***, or sticking it’s head through your open car window!!  Well, they ARE known for their curiosity …


Emu chicks in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia

 So how to rid yourself of unwanted emu attention?  Waving something white at them may well be an urban myth, but it worked for us while bird-watching at Bowra Sanctuary in south-western Queensland.  Do NOT, however, rely on this method to repel their advances, as other factors (such as eau-de-campfire) may have also been in play …

It’s not clear whether the emu depicted as a co-supporter of the Australian Coat of Arms (along with the kangaroo) is a female!  But it may well be, as many of it’s peculiar behavioural characteristics seem to have been adopted to a certain degree by successive governments …

Gender may be less of a factor in whether or not you agree with THAT!

*  Pronounced ‘EEM – you’
**  According to Wikipedia, this means ‘fast footed New Hollander’ (New Holland being, of course, the name by which Australia was first identified on maps after discovery by Abel Tasman in 1644)
***  Translation – ‘… your Barbecue waiting for a sausage’

The post Aussie ABC – E is for Emu! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

Spending a fun filled week in Quilpie is easy.  In the photo above, this Outback Queensland opal mining town is visible way off in the distance from landmark lookout ‘Baldy Top’ just out of town.  But just because it (almost) disappears into the distance from any vantage point doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do there.

About 955 km (593 miles) east of Brisbane on the fully sealed Warrego Highway, Quilpie is what’s known as ‘getting away from it all’.  There’s a variety of accommodation, including the Channel Country caravan park.  We’ve stayed there every time we’ve visited Quilpie – and it’s not just because of the hot artesian spas.  No, really!!

Day 1 – Introduction to Quilpie

Take some time to explore Quilpie the day you arrive. We walked from the caravan park into town, the best way to start to get a feel for the town.  There are a number of places to check out in the town itself:

• excellent Visitor Information Centre, museum and art gallery;
• opal pulpit at St Finbar’s church;
• main street shops – especially for opals;
• end of the railway line;
• ‘Off Shears’ bakery (run by a world champ female shearer);
• other eateries – pub, club, cafes;

Of course after all that walking, there’s only one thing left to explore – the artesian spas at the caravan park.  We got to know them very well while staying in Quilpie.

Day 2 – Take a Tour

Take the 400 km (248 mile) mail delivery run to around 10 remote station properties in the heart of ‘Kings in Grass Castles’ country. Because it’s an actual mail run, the journey is not really a tour but it certainly feels like one with an early start, and an all-day itinerary. On our trip, we stopped at ‘Alaric’ (Vietnam veterans retreat) and Canaway Downs station in the higher country.  As we passed the Trinidad station boundary fence, our driver contacted the station homestead via radio so our morning tea scones would be fresh from the oven when we arrived at the homestead 15 minutes later!

After morning tea, we toured the amazing Trinidad garden, featured in a book about outback Queensland gardens, and viewed its nearby plane wreck.  A few stations later, we returned to Quilpie via ‘Thyalungra’ (the actual ‘Kings in Grass Castles’ property).  While it was sad to see the 10-stand shearing shed lying unused at the time, the property was restocked with sheep and is still operating.

For a real taste of the outback, this ‘real’ tour is a must, and can be booked from the caravan park.

And there’s nothing quite like a spa after a hard day on the road!

The Channel Country caravan park also offers another tour option – ‘Do Birdsville the Easy Way’. Leave your caravan in Quilpie, fly to Birdsville and tour the area.  Stay overnight in Birdsville, then fly back to Quilpie.

Day 3 – Close to Quilpie

There is still more to see and do close by to Quilpie. Lake Houdraman, while on private property, has campsites, fishing and birdwatching.  It’s not far out of town across the river. On the way back, follow the loop trail along the river bank for more birdwatching (we saw wild budgies, and heard the elusive western gerygone amongst other things) then check out the river on the other side of the road! Some beautiful spots, and more camp sites.

Do anything that you missed from Day 1 – the art gallery has a new exhibition each month, and there was also one at the pub while we were there.

In the evening, don’t miss a walk up ‘Baldy Top’ for great views across the plains, and an outback sunset.  The condom we found up there gives a clue as to what at least two locals found to do there!  This 360 degree panorama underlines the remoteness of the countryside with the Quilpie township almost into the scrub. There’s free camping out here as well amongst the flies, sandflies and mosquitoes.

But don’t take my word for it – check them out for yourself!!

Day 4 – Opal Mining Frenzy

Staying at the caravan park gives you free entry to the exotically named ‘Deuces Wild’ opal mining lease with the chance to find some ‘colour’ (local lingo for ‘opal’).  It’s also an opportunity to bury yourself in the depths of the outback with NO phone coverage and NO way of contacting anyone if anything goes wrong, except by emergency radio – if you have one. Sounds inviting, huh?

Registering with the caravan park for a day at the mining lease is mandatory.  The caravan park will organise a rescue party for which you’ll foot the bill if you’re not back by a set time.  That’s a great incentive to remember to check in when you return.

Despite the daunting but thrilling thought of being totally incommunicado for a day, the drive past oil donkeys (just like being on the set of ‘Dallas’), scrub and wide open places to get to the lease is part of the day out. The moonscape that is the claim is fascinating, with piles of rock, mud, gravel and water lying about.  There are also random people coming and going in the near and middle distance – just suppress those thoughts of Aussie horror movies!

Much of the ‘colour’ we found was from other miners’ discards around the parking area.  That should give an insight into our quality standards.  We left in good time to meet our return deadline and hit the spa again! Serious fossickers can get a license and head out to the Duck Creek and Sheep Station Creek fossicking areas, but for us, the rocks we had were quite heavy enough, especially considering their relative lack of value …

Day 5 – Eromanga

Who doesn’t want to be the furthest it’s possible to be from the sea in Australia? An easy drive west to Eromanga will give you that unique experience, as claimed by the locals.  There’s also an excellent museum (get the keys from the pub), along with the pub, caravan park, cafe and ‘Opalopolis Park’, a great rest area decorated with local boulder opal right next to the outdoor museum.

The Eromanga area produces the largest volume of oil in the country, and Australia’s largest dinosaur bones have been found here. With the opal mining, this makes up an odd trio of regional attractions.

Day 6 – Another day in Quilpie

It can be restful to hang around Quilpie, fossicking in the public fossicking area, buying those souvenir opals (what? No ‘keepers’ or ‘cutters’ at Deuces Wild??) and revisiting the bakery.

You probably found, as we did, that anything other than a plain pie has been sold from the bakery by 12-ish, so the earlier you get there, the better!

The morning tea experience can also be worthwhile there, Pilchard managed to turn a massive Apple turnover with fresh cream into something closely resembling a plate of fresh roadkill while trying to eat it.  The owner told us it was ‘good to see you’re getting your vitamin C’ (cream in case you missed it), and she was right.

Day 7 – Further Afield

A day trip to Toompine, Adavale and/or Cheepie, the other Quilpie shire towns, rounds out the week nicely. Which one to visit? Well … it depends if you’re interested in fishing, museums, Cobb & Co history, a pub lunch, or giant beer cans! We took the Toompine road and have never seen so many emus in one spot!!

Toompine itself makes an interesting day trip, especially if you get lucky as we did with a brilliant morning tea at the local pub.

There are also two national parks – Mariala and Idalia – in the area, where bush camping with a permit is available, along with outdoor activities like bushwalking and birdwatching.

Quilpie is a great place to experience the Queensland Outback.  There are lots of things to do in Quilpie and the surrounding area, so make sure you leave enough time to discover it all!

Want MORE?

• Opal Mining in Quilpie and BEYOND!
• Visiting Toompine
• A Trip to Eromanga
• Quilpie Attractions

The post Why Quilpie is a TOP Aussie Town appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.